Purpose of Loneliness

Loneliness cannot be overcome by focusing on self, fretting over one’s own needs or catering to desires for power or pleasure. The prospect of happiness moves farther away if attention is fixed on oneself and one’s possessions.

The antidote to loneliness lies in stretching beyond our own little world and reaching out in faith to the living God. St. Augustine, after years of seeking comfort in all the wrong places, eventually discovered this truth and cried out to God, “You made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." Indeed Augustine is right. No one but God can calm our restlessness. Nothing created can still the longings of the heart. To deal successfully with feelings of being isolated and all alone, we have to reach out to what is greater than our selves. We need to believe in God and to experience His love. This call extends to us all; it is hidden within our loneliness.

Psalm 73 captures this truth in dramatic fashion. In it, a man of faith who has tried to live a virtuous life faces a crisis of intense suffering. His faith is tested to the limit. Finally, he cries out to the Lord,“What else have I in heaven but you? Apart from you I want nothing on earth. My body and my heart faint for joy. God is my possession forever… To be near God is my happiness."

--Bishop Thomas Olmstead, September 2005